The Daily Startup: Culinary Agents Launches Chefs’ Networking Site

Culinary Agents Inc., a sort of LinkedIn for culinary professionals started by a former International Business Machines Corp. executive, has raised $500,000 in seed funding from RRE Ventures, Correlation Ventures and various angels. Thanks to the Food Network and a flourishing foodie culture in America, former IBM executive Alice Cheng believes it’s time for chefs to have their own networking and hiring site.

Investments like hedge funds, real estate partnerships and bundles of mortgages have been hard to access for investors who don’t know the right people, and these investments can also be hard to liquidate once they’re made. A new company, Venovate Holdings Inc., has launched to tackle these problems, VentureWire has learned, creating an online marketplace to match accredited investors with alternative investments and ultimately to help investors liquidate investments. It’s backed by Provident Trust Group LLC in Las Vegas, Draper Fisher Jurvetson founder Tim Draper and Venovate Chief Executive Michael Raneri, a former executive with the online broker Charles Schwab & Co.

Also in today’s VentureWire, Galleon Pharmaceuticals Inc. has raised $6 million from insiders, VentureWire has learned, as it prepares to launch a clinical trial of a drug that could provide an alternative to mask therapy now used to treat sleep apnea…An Ohio startup called Crowdentials Inc. has raised $300,000 for technology that verifies accredited investors online so that when they attempt to put their money into startups, funds or other assets, the process goes smoothly, with little paperwork and no delays…and Technology Crossover Ventures, which more than six years ago landed the biggest venture fund ever raised at $3 billion, has rounded up $1.465 billion for a successor fund, according to a regulatory filing. It’s unclear how much how much the firm is seeking for TCV VIII LP because the filing, dated Friday, has no offering amount.

(VentureWire is a daily newsletter with comprehensive analysis of all the investments, deals and personnel moves involving startups and their venture backers. For a two-week trial, visit our homepage, scroll to the bottom and click “try for free.”)

Elsewhere around the Web:

Chinese startup Xiaomi, which sells smartphones, is trying to capture some Apple magic by paying co-founder Steve Wozniak to talk to reporters at its Beijing headquarters.

Venture-backed Dropboxsuffered an outage for about three hours Friday night, when its website and mobile apps were unavailable. Several Twitter accounts belonging to hacker groups claimed responsibility but Dropbox said routine maintenance was to blame.

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